For first-timers, risk-takers and others, a ripe time to buy

Stephanie Armour
USA Today

Home prices are sinking. Banks are seizing properties from owners who can’t pay their mortgages. Yet for Amber Gilmore, the miserable housing market has never looked better.

After searching for a home for more than a year, Gilmore and her fiancé found one in foreclosure. Once the bank cut the asking price by more than $100,000, the first-time home buyers eagerly sealed the deal for $230,000.

In about a month, the couple will move into the two-bedroom house in Chicago with a small fenced yard and garage. The previous owners invested in gleaming granite countertops and hardwood floors. Their loss, Gilmore says, is her gain.

“This is the best time to buy — so many homes are in foreclosure,” says Gilmore, 25, a news coordinator for Telemundo, a Spanish-language media company. “The market right now is, to us, a benefit.”

As home sales and prices drop across much of the USA, many potential buyers remain scared to jump into the market, and sellers are resorting to slash-and-burn prices. The national median price sank to $195,900 in February, down from $213,500 in February 2007. Foreclosures are up nearly 60% from March 2007, according to RealtyTrac.

To a small but growing number of buyers across the nation, the grim housing recession offers a tantalizing upside: They can get a home at a fire-sale price. In some metro areas, price declines are galvanizing bargain hunters — especially first-timers, foreign investors and out-of-state buyers looking to rent properties they hope to sell later for a windfall.

Those shoppers are forming isolated pockets of real estate activity, especially in cities where foreclosure rates are high but jobs remain available to attract potential home buyers.

In some areas, such as Charlotte and Detroit, home sales are ticking upward, following a trend of upward sales as far back as 2006. In other markets, bargain-hunting activity is still too sporadic to fuel an overall rise in sales.

Few economists expect the sporadic purchases to signal a bottom to the housing market’s slump, but the bottom-fishing for home deals is a hopeful sign amid all the bad news about the troubled housing market.

National housing analysts say they lack hard numbers to quantify the degree to which investors and other bottom-fishers are affecting sales in many markets. However, “We’ve heard anecdotally that there are some investors looking to pick up these properties,” says Paul Bishop, the National Association of Realtors’ managing director of research. “That helps put a floor in some of these markets.”

Some real estate agents are trying to cash in by buying or renting buses and treating prospective buyers to tours — complete with free meals — of foreclosed homes in Las Vegas, Cleveland, Orlando and some parts of Michigan and California. In Auburn, Calif., potential buyers are ferried to bank-owned homes in style — via a 40-foot stretch limousine.

“There are people looking for deals, and the deals are out there,” says Patrick Lashinsky, CEO of ZipRealty. “People aren’t priced out of the market anymore. Two years ago, there was a stigma to buying foreclosed homes. Buyers felt like they were taking advantage of someone’s bad luck. That’s not there anymore.”

Ruth Ahlbrand, a Realtor in Las Vegas, began noticing new opportunities in the housing market last year, as banks that had seized homes began lowering the prices. In a market where casino projects promise plenty of job opportunities, she knew buyers could be found.

So she hatched a plan. Ahlbrand began training her agents to specialize in foreclosures, revamped her Internet marketing campaign to appeal to buyers intent on finding screaming deals and bought a 40-seat bus, which she spruced up with reclining seats and air-conditioning vents for each rider.

On Feb. 13, Ahlbrand put into service her foreclosure bus — a red, white and blue coach splashed with slogans such as “Hottest Bank Owned Homes!” to take potential buyers on three-hour tours. The tours include free meals after the ride and an agent with a microphone to point out the deals and explain how to buy a home in foreclosure.

So far, Ahlbrand says, more than 700 riders have taken the tour, and prospective buyers frequently drop in to see when the next tour is.

On weekdays, the bus rides up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, without passengers, to drum up more business. Sales have increased more than 10% since she began using the bus.

“It’s like a seminar on wheels,” Ahlbrand says. “Buyers are saving up to 30% or 50%. People are really looking for a deal. I’d almost call it a frenzy. We’ve hit the bottom, and Las Vegas is growing.”

In one sign of the trend, she says, more than 40% of the homes her agency sold in December and January were bank-owned at the time of purchase.

And Las Vegas is one metro area where prices are dive-bombing. After prices soared during the national real estate boom of 2005, the city has absorbed one of the sharpest drops in home prices in the USA, according to a price-index report from S&P/Case-Shiller.

Las Vegas reported a 19.3% decline in home prices in January, compared with January 2007. And the median home price sank from $314,950 in March of 2006 to $243,169 in March 2008, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

While overall home sales are showing their steepest declines in more than a decade, the allure of low prices to bargain-hunters offers a glint of light in an otherwise bleak real estate landscape.

Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Sacramento and San Diego have all seen sales increases recently after a period of price declines, according to a March report by Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics firm. In Detroit, sales of homes and condos rose 12.8% in February compared with a year ago, according to Realcomp.

That doesn’t necessarily mean prices are rising, too: In January, Boston still posted a 3.4% price decline over last year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index.

Joel Naroff, chief economist with Naroff Economic Advisors, says bargain buyers are moving in but some may be getting into deals in which they are expecting too much bang for their investment.

Among the bargain shoppers:

•Investors. Single-family home prices in 10 major metro areas tumbled 11.4% in January — the steepest decline since such figures were first collected in 1987 — according to a March report by the S&P/Case-Shiller composite index.

One result: mouth-watering opportunities for some investors, some of whom are buying multiple properties with plans to rent them out until the housing market picks up and prices rise again.

Alison Diboll, a marketing executive in San Francisco, closed a deal in March on the first of four homes she’s buying in Charlotte and Dallas. She bought the homes, which were previously in foreclosure and have been rehabilitated, for about $100,000 each.

She plans to rent them out for five to seven years and sell them once the market rebounds.

Diboll is so confident that her four homes are a shrewd buy that she hasn’t bothered to see any of them and is having them managed by a third party.

That sort of breezy approach toward buying a home without having seen it firsthand conjures up memories of the risk-taking by buyers during the real estate bubble. But Diboll insists her investment is safer than it would be in the stock market.

“With the stock market as volatile as it is, it’s not a good idea for me,” Diboll says.

“Real estate is the great American Dream,” she adds. “I read that the people who made money during the Great Depression were those who had money and took a risk.”

•Foreign buyers. International investors also are eyeing the U.S. housing market. Thirty-three percent of international buyers from April 2006 through April 2007 were from Europe, according to a 2007 report by the NAR.

Buyers from Asia and North America (outside the USA) were also active, accounting for 24% and 23% of international clients during that same time period.

Sales to international buyers have been turbocharged by the steady drop in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies. Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the NAR, says the dollar’s dwindling value means that foreign buyers can get U.S. real estate at a relative average discount of 30%. (That percentage can run lower or higher depending on the buyer’s home country.)

Agents are trying to reach out to some of these far-flung buyers, many of whom are seeking vacation homes. Ralph Haverkate, a broker at Tarbell Realtors in Palm Springs, Calif., is dangling an unusual inducement: Buyers from Canada are reimbursed for their travel and hotel expenses — up to $1,750 — if they close on a home. The home doesn’t even have to be one that his agency is selling, but they do have to use his firm as their representative. The agency is now offering the same sort of deal for European buyers, initially targeting Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

“We’ve had buyers flying in back-to-back,” Haverkate says. “My partner and I literally have three or four couples a week coming in, and we take care of them. Prices are low, and if you combine that with the currency exchange, the savings are really big. The market is suffering — but for them, it’s good.”

Economists say the international interest is a hopeful sign in today’s market.

•First-time home buyers. First-time home buyers who found themselves priced out of the real estate market during the frenzied market of 2001 to 2005 are among those who are now tentatively starting to buy properties in some areas where prices have plunged.

In November 2007, about 39% of purchasers were first-time home buyers, up from 36% in 2006, according to the NAR.

Buyers who find a price they can afford still face other obstacles in the current economic climate, says Patrick Newport, an economist with Global Insight.

“It’s still hard to get credit,” he says. “Banks are being careful and requiring bigger down payments. But there are people jumping into the market, including investors, who are hoping to make a killing.”

And buying a home through foreclosure or an auction can be problematic, with properties often sold “as is,” or with potential buyers unable to arrange for a full inspection.

Financing needs to be secure, because homes bought at an auction often require closing within 30 days. And some buyers intent on snatching up low-priced bargains they plan to sell quickly could end up being burned if the housing market remains stuck in the doldrums for years to come.

Meanwhile, foreclosure tours — some in double-decker buses or swanky limos — represent part of a trend that analysts say could help prop up the real estate market in some areas.

“If you have any interest in real estate at all, you can’t ignore the hype about foreclosures,” says Nikki Holmes, a Realtor at Keller Williams Realty in Auburn, Calif., who has begun conducting Saturday-morning tours in a white stretch limo to showcase foreclosed homes to prospective buyers.

“Buyers are getting very savvy and educated,” Holmes says.

“People are saying, ‘It’s a really sad story we have this huge mortgage bust, but it’s an opportunity for me.’ When something fails, something else comes along to take its place, and that will re-energize the economy.”

New York’s Vongerichten looking at Shangri-La Hotel

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

Renowned New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten is negotiating to open a new restaurant in the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver early next year.

If he comes, he’ll be the second global culinary superstar to commit to a new Vancouver eatery in just over a month — following chef Daniel Boulud’s decision to become a partner in Lumiere restaurant.

“We are in discussions with Jean-Georges Vongerichten for the restaurant at Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver,” Shangri-La representative Jill Killeen confirmed Wednesday. “There is no signed agreement at this time.

“Shangri-La intends to bring an exciting, international food and wine dynamic to our first hotel in North America, and even greater excitement to Vancouver‘s dining scene.”

Like Boulud, Vongerichten was born in France and made his name in New York.

The 52-year-old chef currently has more than 15 restaurants throughout the world — including New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Shanghai, the Bahamas and Bora Bora.

His upscale Jean Georges restaurant on Central Park West in New York is one of just three restaurants in that city with a coveted three-star rating from the Michelin Guide.

Killeen denied earlier speculation the Shangri-La Hotel — scheduled to open near Georgia and Thurlow in January 2009 — was trying to attract celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to open a restaurant in its project.

Barbara-jo McIntosh, owner of Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks store, said the potential arrival of two such high-powered celebrity chefs in Vancouver reflects the city’s growth.

“It’s a sign that Vancouver is becoming recognized as a growing metropolis with a culinary scene that is worthy of these grand chefs’ attention,” she said in an interview. “It’s fine, and kind of neat, but it doesn’t excite me to an exultant level because we already have a great culinary community.

“I can’t imagine myself staying away from Pino’s or Bluewater or Bishop’s because these guys are coming, but of course I’ll go visit them.

“These guys are really, really good, and certainly on an international level it could attract more corporate entertaining [to Vancouver].”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Eat it up

Joanne Sasvari
Sun

Walking into Fraiche, the luxe new bistro perched atop the British Properties, you could easily be seduced by the sleek decor, the opulent art or the upscale-but-comforting West Coast cuisine.

But if you’re like most Lower Mainlanders, chances are your eyes will be drawn straight to the stunning view from the floor-to-ceiling windows and you’ll think, “Great! Someplace cool to bring the rellies when they come to visit.”

Yep, it’s April, and the beginning of the annual deluge of Calgarians and Torontonians desperate to shake the slush from their boots.

They want a taste of the West Coast fine life, and Vancouverites know there’s plenty to savour in Canada‘s most dynamic dining scene.

But your guests won’t want to experience your fave hole-in-the-wall tapas bar or strip mall dim sum joint. No, they want fine food and a fine view.

Trouble is, many view restaurants have a bad rep for focusing on the scenery and ignoring what goes on in the kitchen.

So we’ve done the work for you. We’ve checked out more than 25 great places where the food is as fab as the view. Your guests can thank us later.

NORTH SHORE

For the city’s ultimate view restaurants, look up, way up, to Grouse Mountain, where guests have two delicious options for enjoying the scenery. Altitudes Bistro offers casual fare, cool cocktails and a truly spectacular patio, while The Observatory offers high end West Coast cuisine. Note that Skyride tickets are complimentary with advance reservations to The Observatory. Call 604-980-9311 or visit www.grousemountain.com for more info.

Don’t want to squeeze onto a swaying, vertigo-inducing tram? West Vancouver has a couple of options with views almost as grand as those from the top of the mountain.

The chic newcomer is Fraiche, a much-needed addition to West Van’s tried-and-true restaurant lineup. It features what chef Wayne Martin (also of Crave on Main) is calling “North Shore comfort food,” which seems to mean West Coast ingredients with Mediterranean influences. It also has a spectacular wine list and creative cocktails. And oh, that view! Fraiche is at 2240 Chippendale Rd., West Vancouver, 604-925-7595, www.fraicherestaurant.ca.

Just down the road, Salmon House on the Hill has been serving up great seafood and even greater views for three decades. If you haven’t been in a while, it’s definitely time for another visit. There is some serious excitement going on in the kitchen these days, especially with the new “Uniquely B.C.” menu featuring locally sourced ingredients such as alder-grilled Hecate Strait coho salmon and Whistle View Farms veal chop. Salmon House is at 2229 Folkestone Way, West Vancouver, 604-926-8539, www.salmonhouse.com.

DOWNTOWN

Downtown Vancouver has an abundance of great restaurants, but only a handful of them have great views. Among them are longtime faves C and Raincity Grill, Milestones and the Sylvia Hotel. But two relative newcomers stand out in the bunch.

In 2006, NU landed on just about every best new restaurant list (including En Route, Where and Vancouver Magazine). Since then, this False Creek eatery has settled into its waterfront location as a super-stylish place for great brunches, cocktails, parties and patio action. NU is at 1661 Granville St., 604-646-4668, www.whatisnu.com.

Across the peninsula on Coal Harbour, Lift gazes out over Stanley Park and the North Shore mountains. Watch the seaplanes take off as you enjoy a glass of vino and a signature “whet plate” on the upstairs patio. Lift is also a multiple award winner, and its kitchen turns out consistently excellent cuisine. It’s located at 333 Menchion Mews, 604-689-5438, www.liftbarandgrill.com.

WEST SIDE

Kitsilano has always been a bit of puzzle for the visitor hungry for a view. The community looks out across sea and mountains, yet few of its myriad restaurants have a view. Luckily, there are two great exceptions to that rule.

The first is Watermark, that coolly modern building down on Kits beach. With its spectacular location and 180-seat beachside patio, Watermark could get away with serving just about anything and guests would still eat it up. It’s to the credit of executive chef Lynda Larouche that the restaurant serves such excellent West Coast cuisine. Watermark is at 1305 Arbutus St., 604-738-KITS (5487), www.watermarkrestaurant.ca.

Then there’s the place no one wants to tell you about because they want to keep the secret to themselves: The Galley Patio and Grill at the Jericho Sailing Centre, where the wind whips up both waves and hearty appetites. The beer is cold, the burgers done just right, the prices super-low and the view unbeatable. Note that, except in summer, The Galley is only open on weekends. It’s at 1300 Discovery St., 604-222-1331, www.thegalley.ca.

RICHMOND/STEVESTON

Nothing beats a sunny afternoon spent sitting on the Steveston pier, enjoying a beer and watching the fishing boats bring home the daily catch. If you like fresh seafood with your view, one great place to enjoy both is the Shady Island Seafood Bar & Grill, which offers a wide variety of oceanic delights as well as live entertainment on weekends. It’s at 112 3800 Bayview St., Richmond, 604-275-6587, www.shadyislandseafoodbarandgrill.com.

Bored with mountains and oceans? Then how about jazzing things up with some seaplane action? The Flying Beaver Bar & Grill is located by the No. 2 Road Bridge, where you can watch Harbour Air planes take off and land on the Middle Arm of the Fraser River. This brew pub offers a selection of craft beers and pub fare, and the best patio in town for plane-spotting. The Flying Beaver is at 4760 Inglis Dr., Richmond, 604-273-0278, www.markjamesgroup.com/flyingbeaver.html.

BURNABY

If you prefer a garden view, then make your way out to Burnaby, where two of the area’s most romantic restaurants are nestled among the trees and flowers.

Hart House Restaurant is a Tudor-style historic mansion offering casual West Coast elegance on the shores of Burnaby‘s Deer Lake. Its pretty patio is a big hit with the brunch and garden weddings crowd, and it’s well worth the visit for chef Dennis Peckham’s exquisite West Coast cuisine. Hart House is at 6664 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby, 604-298-4278, HYPERLINK “http://www.harthouserestaurant.com/” www.harthouserestaurant.com.

For views of gardens and mountains, totem poles, Indian Arm inlet and more, you simply can’t beat Horizons on Burnaby Mountain. It’s an elegantly modern-looking room, but you’ll be hard-pressed to tear your eyes away from the lush views outside to notice anything else around you — not even the inventive West Coast-style cuisine by chef John Garrett. Horizons is at 100 Centennial Way, Burnaby, 604-299-1155, www.horizonsrestaurant.com

COQUITLAM

For some of the best dining — not to mention the most spectacular setting — in the Tri Cities area, pack your clubs and head out to Westwood Plateau Golf Academy. Of course, we’ll understand if you decide to leave the clubs in the car and go straight to the 19th hole, that is, Hazards Restaurant on the Plateau. Each seat has a perfect view all the way from the Fraser River to Mount Baker. Expect casual-elegant fare like spicy noodles, steaks and easy-to-share plates. Hazards is at 1630 Parkway Blvd., Coquitlam, 604-941-4219, www.westwoodplateaugolf.com.

LANGLEY

Sometimes, nothing can beat the old-school way of doing things, and that’s just what you’ll find at the charming, historic Bedford House Restaurant and Lounge in Fort Langley. This lovely old home looks out across beautiful gardens and the Fraser River, and offers such classic dishes as lobster bisque, beef Stroganoff and seafood crepes. Bedford House is at 272 Glover Rd., Fort Langley, 604-0888-2333. For more info, go to www.fortlangleyvillage.com and follow the links.

From the windows of Bacchus Bistro, you can gaze out across peaceful vineyards while enjoying delicious French fare. It’s a perfect spot to watch the sun set and pick up a bottle or two of award-winning Chaberton wine to enjoy later at home. Bacchus Bistro is at Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery, 1064 216th St., Langley, 604-530-9694, www.domainedechaberton.com.

WHITE ROCK/SOUTH SURREY

You can’t go wrong with either the food or the views from any of the restaurants along White Rock’s Board Walk.

Two we especially love are the remarkable, award-winning Pearl on the Rock and, for more casual fare, the Washington Avenue Grill. Both offer spectacular views of Semiahmoo Bay and wonderful West Coast cuisine. Pearl on the Rock is at 14955 Marine Dr., 604-542-1064 www.pearlrestaurant.ca and Washington Avenue Grill is at 5 – 15782 Marine Dr., 604-541-4244, www.washingtonavenuegrill.com, both in White Rock

CHAINS WITH A VIEW

Look around the Lower Mainland’s for the very best view locations, and you will likely find a restaurant belonging to one of two local chains. Both offer good, though rarely outstanding, West Coast cuisine with a strong focus on seafood. More importantly, they have attractive rooms, reasonable prices, decent wine lists and unbeatable views, which is why they are such favourites with both visitors and locals.

The Boathouse has six locations, each with a better view than the last: English Bay (1795 Beach Ave., 604-669-2225), Richmond (8331 River Rd., 604-273-7014), New Westminster (900 Quayside Dr., 604-525-3474), White Rock (14935 Marine Dr., 604-536-7320), Horseshoe Bay (6695 Nelson St., 604-921-8188) and the newest location, Port Moody (2770 Esplanade Ave., 605-931-5300). For info, visit www.boathouserestaurants.ca.

The Sequoia Group has four locations with equally stellar views: The Sandbar on Granville Island (1535 Johnston St., 604-669-9030), Cardero’s Restaurant in Coal Harbour (1583 Coal Harbour Quay, 605-669-7666), Seasons in the Park (Queen Elizabeth Park, West 33rd Avenue and Main Street, 604-874-8008) and Sequoia Grill at the Teahouse in Stanley Park (Ferguson Point, Stanley Park Drive, 604-669-3281). For info, visit www.vancouver.dine.com.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Nothing here to oink about

Mark Laba
Province

The Greedy Pig

Where: 307 W. Cordova St.

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-669-4991

Drinks: Fully licensed

Hours: Noon-midnight Tuesday to Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday

Whomever invented the panini and fancy grilled artisan sandwich should have his head stuck in a panini press. It’s not that I don’t like the things, it’s just that the panini or variations thereof — at least the North-American version that’s going viral across the nation — seems to be a diabolical plot for reducing the amount of stuff you have to put in a sandwich. Grill the sucker flat, tell folks it’s European and presto, fancy sandwich, fancy price but about as satisfying as tofu baloney. Or a candy bar made with carob beans. Or a Louisville Slugger to the back of the knees.

Likewise the charcuterie craze. I’m a huge fan of top-of-the-line meats and cheeses but these little sampler platters popping up in newer restaurants across the city, offered up like precious cold-cuts and curdled mould diamonds, are losing their original peasant roots. Barely enough on the plate to fill a garden gnome’s belly and most joints will ding you 15 to 20 smackers for the stuff, gussying it up with a little dollop of fruit compote to alleviate your fear that your money just took flight and left barely a trace. It would all be well and good, I think, if we didn’t know where most of these meats and cheeses come from, since it usually says so on the menu. More satisfying and economical to go to the store in question and throw your own charcuterie party.

Which leads me to The Greedy Pig. With a name like this, well, you’re bound to expect certain things. I knew walking in with Ricky Roulette, no stranger to greed himself, that the place’s forte was artisan sandwiches and cheese and meat but I imagined this trough would still be satisfying.

The joint’s hip to the nines with its kind of chic bric-a-brac furnishings, a post-modern mix of industrial piping, vinyl seat covering, exposed brickwork and vintage fixings. It begs for people with tattoos to fill its space.

“Did I tell you my 90-year-old grandmother thinks I stole her silverware,” Ricky Roulette told me over a couple of beers.

“Did you?”

“Geez, what th’hell do you think I am?”

“A greedy pig, perhaps,” I replied. “Albeit one with hairplugs and gambling debts.”

On that note, we began with a stink of another kind. The Ewe Stink Roquefort cheese dish ($9) arrived with a decent block of the blue-veined stuff, a pear-and-rum compote and thin slices of good bread. The best deal of the night and the Roquefort had the proper stink of Godzilla’s athletic cup after a busy day demolishing Japanese cities.

Next up, some fancypants sandwiches. I picked the Oyama roast-beef sandwich ($13), described as their version of Beef Wellington with a foie-gras truffle parfait and porcini mushrooms. Ricky Roulette opted for the ratatouille shlimazel ($10) or as he told the waitress, “I’ll have the one with the buffalo meat.”

“Sorry sir, that’s buffalo mozzarella.”

“You mean there’s no buffalo meat on it?”

“No sir, it’s a type of cheese.”

“Well I’ll be damned.” He took it anyway. Both came looking a hell of a lot like paninis. Grilled flat so the promised baguette looked like a hit-and-run accident and the porcini mushrooms on mine appeared to be three small pieces of fungus that looked like bugs that had hit a windshield at high speed. The foie-gras parfait was undetectable. Roulette’s ratatouille was good but equally sparse. Also tried the pulled-pork sandwich that, at least, wasn’t grilled but was tiny and uninspiring. The cocktails here, though, are fine creations, from the Roughrider to the George Thorogood with its one-bourbon-one-scotch-one-beer theme. As for this pig, he appears far skinnier than his name.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

I’ll huff and puff and blow your sandwich down.

RATINGS: Food: B- Service: B+ Atmosphere: B+

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

Iconic Vancouver restaurant The Cannery Seafood House — an east Vancouver waterfront landmark since 1971 — will have to shut down and permanently relocate in 2010.

Cannery general manager Jean Turcotte confirmed Wednesday the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will not renew the restaurant’s lease, which expires shortly after the 2010 Olympics.

“Of course it’s a disappointment because we have been in this location for so many years,” he said in an interview. ” . . . We’re going to move but we haven’t looked for a new location yet so there’s no plan right now.”

VFPA representative Anne McMullin said the port authority decided two years ago that for security and operations reasons, the restaurant could not carry on at its present location.

“They’re a great tenant and always have been,” she said in an interview. “We have tried to work with them in many different ways but from a security and operational perspective, there’s just not an opportunity to extend [the lease] past 2010.”

McMullin said port officials have tried unsuccessfully to find alternative sites for the restaurant and deliberately extended the current lease past the 2010 Games so it could benefit from the increased business.

The popular seafood restaurant in the heart of a bustling working harbour opened in its present Commissioner Street location in August 1971. Its unique waterfront harbour views and consistent food and service quality have made it a longtime favourite with locals and tourists.

Increased port security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced port officials to permanently close access from Victoria Drive, making it harder for patrons to find the restaurant.

“It was hard for locals to find us at first and it hurt business a bit during the first year,” Turcotte said. “But everybody is aware of it now and we are back to normal so business is really strong right now.”

He said finding another waterfront location will be a top priority when the search for a new restaurant site begins.

“There are things we have to keep and waterfront is definitely one of them because it’s part of the concept,” Turcotte said. “We’d like to stay in Vancouver but I can’t tell you that will happen for sure. But of course that would be our first choice.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Fine to standout dishes amid pretty design elements

Mia Stainsby
Sun

It’s been 13 years since Moustache Cafe first opened on Marine Drive in North Vancouver in a compact canary yellow house. Shortly thereafter, another one opened in a white house on West Broadway (that one closed after a fire) and then finally, an expensive modern one opened on Burrard at Fifth.

Some notable chefs came and went from the restaurants (Andrey Durbach and Don Letendre) until about nine years ago when the Burrard location went bankrupt. The one in North Van kept on chugging under different ownerships.

Geoff Lundholm has been chef/owner for four years and last December, he began another chapter for Moustache — a new place and a whole new look. Frankly, it was time. The old house was dated in the era of cool and contemporary.

M Studio (which also did Earl’s Paramount) did a great job designing the restaurant in a space that was once a display suite for a highrise development. It’s the smartest looking room in North Vancouver. I especially liked the gentle punch of the black and white paisley accent wallpaper and the white runway of a countertop in the bar, going down the length of the open kitchen. (The classical landscape paintings on the wall, however, seem out of place.)

Lundholm has worked at Al Porto restaurant, Sage Bistro at UBC, Gramercy Grill in Kits, and put in a couple of years at Moustache Cafe in the ’90s.

His menu at the new location is a work in progress as he tries to capture the feel of the new space. It has Mediterranean accents (polenta, gnocchi, brandade and risotto) but there’s little sign of devotion to local ingredients and artisanal products that most front-running restaurants highlight these days.

Some dishes stand out while others are fine, but not outstanding. The short rib burger with Oka cheese is carnivore heaven. It has the regular patty but on top of that, there’s a layer of shredded short rib and Oka cheese — a burger so tall you need a Mick Jagger mouth for that tremulous first bite. However, the frites were not crisp enough and the fact that my partner and I barely made a dent in them says it all.

Brandade (a saltcod dish, with a mashed potato texture) was nicely cooked; mussels in chardonnay with basil and cream, a special, was fresh and delicious; wild mushroom soup, while muddy looking, had a lovely earthy flavour; pan-seared trout with lemon beurre blanc was perfectly cooked but the accompanying potato croquette was murdered in the deepfryer or oven, leaving a hard, overcooked exterior. Wenzel duck breast with polenta had an unusual texture, more like ham than poultry but it was tender. A half Cornish game hen with port wine/cranberry jus was a satisfying dish and here, the mashed potatoes were creamy and flavourful.

Lundholm says he’s bringing a favourite among his old regulars out of retirement — baby back-rib with blue cheese macaroni.

Desserts don’t get a ringing endorsement. A chocolate hazelnut mousse was quite good but tart tatin was an unrecognizable pile of apples on a wet crust. The plating is far too heavy-handed with thick lashings of sauces making the dish look cluttered and messy.

The room needed more buzz — better use of music would do it but so would more signs of life from servers. One server, a more senior woman, sparkled with energy and useful information but others, though young and pretty, went through the motions.

MOUSTACHE CAFE

129 West Second Ave., North Vancouver. 604-987-8461. www.moustachecafe.ca. Dinners, Tuesday to Sunday. Lunch, Thursday and Friday.

Overall: ***1/2

Food: ***1/2

Ambience: ****

Service: ***1/2

Price: $$/$$$

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

This cafe is sustainable in more ways than just the profit making motive

Mia Stainsby
Sun

It’s nice to know that not everyone measures profit in dollars. At Agro Cafe, it’s measured by the good that they do. The CEO of this two-outlet cafe is 26-year-old Blake Hanacek and I’d like to see him become more famous, influential and rich than Bill Gates.

Agro Cafe (there’s one in Yaletown and another on Granville Island) is the showcase for the work being done by a non-profit organization he founded, Agricultural Growers Resource Organization Developing Economic Viability. The cafe name is an acronym for the organization, which works with coffee farmers in developing countries, helping them to become part of the Fair Trade network of farmers.

Agro Cafe coffees are bought directly from these farmers. Hanacek (whose academic background is in sustainable rural development and resource management) does the cupping and roasting and serves nine single origin coffees, using the Clover machine, brewing single cups.

Menus at the two locations are similar but the Yaletown location serves fine cheese and charcuterie as well. Ingredients are as green and healthy as possible — local, unmedicated, free range, organic, sustainable, you name it. It’s licensed and even the beers and wines are organic and local, where possible.

I tried the Eat Your Greens salad, a big bowl of crisp organic greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrot ribbons, sprouts, toasted almonds, dried cranberries and goat cheese lightly tossed with blackberry balsamic dressing. A great lunch. A side of hand-cut fries (skin on) featured lovely starchy potatoes cooked just right. West Coast crab melt with caramelized onions, sprouts, greens and lemon basil aioli was sandwiched between dark rye. And the coffee was very good.

Agro is popular for breakfast as well, especially the breakfast specials, which can be Spanish frittata one day and eggs benedict the next. It’s very much a cafe with the menu of breakfasts, salads and sandwiches as the main players but all this humble food is big on quality.

Hanacek wants his operations to be models of sustainable businesses so his take-out dishes are compostable; the cutlery is made from potatoes and he trucks 800 pounds of coffee grounds to the UBC farm for compost in his 1977 Volkswagen bus. He also gives lectures to UBC’s commerce, agriculture and development classes about sustainable businesses and was nominated for the Alumni Achievement Award last year.

“It isn’t just the bottom line,” he preaches. “You have to make money in a socially and environmentally responsible way.”

If you go to the Yaletown branch, please be advised that the see-through glass door to the washroom (visible from the room) becomes opaque when you lock the door — a legacy from a former business. It gives a wink-wink meaning to that cafe’s name, which was Don’t Show The Elephant.

AGRO CAFE

1363 Railspur Alley, Granville Island, 604-669-0724; and 1207 Hamilton St., 604-605-1292. www.agrocafe.org

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Small Fry Eli takes a fiery hit of mee goreng — and declares a winner

Mark Laba
Province

Review

Chilli Padi

Where: 5750 Fraser St.

Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-323-0556

Drinks: Intriguing Malaysian juices and soft drinks

Hours: Tues.-Fri., lunch 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m;, dinner 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sun., 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., closed Mondays

There are particular landmark moments in a parent’s life when they flush with pride to the point of popping the blood vessels in their eyes as their children reach the milestones that will teeter them toward adulthood. For my parents, I believe it was my bar mitzvah where, apparently, I was to become a man. I thought a couple of hookers, a complimentary cheese tray and a shot of whisky were supposed to take care of that, but I was wrong. Either way, it was all downhill for me after that shindig. But as a food reviewer, it wasn’t my son’s first steps, his first tooth or his first day at school that did it for me. It was his first forkful of mee goreng that said my boy’s finally grown up. And I have this new restaurant to thank for that.

Checked it out with Peaches, who is really a turkey-and-stuffing kind of gal but has been won over by Malaysian food. No wonder. As a crossroads of the east, Malaysia is renowned for not only its own indigenous and diverse regional cuisine, like Mamak and Nyonya cooking, but also all the folks who have left their edible footprints on the culinary landscape: Thai, Chinese, Indian, Portuguese, British, Dutch — everyone, it seems, except French Canadians and their poutine.

It’s a small room with pleasing wood furnishings that somehow evoke tropical climes along with the bamboo blinds in case you missed the point. But with a nod to the North American rec-room, there is an odd faux-stone façade that runs along the top of the walls and a certain tranquility emanates from the fake fireplace with a bubbling fish tank on top.

All the meat is halal, no pork on the menu, and the establishment is not licensed either, in observance of Muslim law and tradition. But the food is intoxicating enough as Peaches and I found out.

Began with a superior chicken satay and peanut sauce ($6.95), six beautifully grilled sticks that would make Col. Sanders weep and wish he got out of Kentucky more often.

We followed this with rendang daging ($8.95), an incredible beef stew redolent with coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, ginger and who knows what else, reduced to a kind of paste with tender meat and red chilies dotting the surface.

Along with this we had ayam bawang putih ($8.95), an unassuming dish of chicken with chili peppercorns and garlic. It appeared pallid and uninspired, like an overworked accountant at tax time — no sauce to speak of. But lurking in this poultry were small explosions of flavour that had an undefinable presence. Like seeing Keith Richards shopping at Zellers.

Next up was an ode to the Pacific Northwest with salmon pangang ($11.95), a spellbinding and sultry mix of salmon with chili sauce and asparagus on a banana leaf. Finally the mee goreng ($7.65), the famed Singapore-style fried noodles, the remainder of which we took home to Small Fry Eli, who was waiting with baited and chocolate-scented breath for this promised treat. Wonderous, spicy and altogether satisfying. Available with beef, chicken or seafood, too. How did it fly with Small Fry Eli? He put on a brave face, especially since the twins were watching and, after two bites, declared it good. Then he drank two glasses of water to douse the fire and finally we fed him some Alphaghetti for good measure. Now, if they had fed me this at my bar mitzvah, maybe I’d finally be half the man I never used to be.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The soul food of Southeast Asia

RATINGS: Food: B+ Service: B+ Atmosphere: B

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Indie music on the side adds to the relaxed mood

Mia Stainsby
Sun

It has the ring of gourmandizing, being scolded and taunted all at the same time. Greedy Pig is a friendly neighbourhood noshery, a wonderful blend of great indie music (live as well as recorded), delicious comfort foods and easygoing attitude.

Patrons are models of street hip. The guys are in an assortment of hats — a toque, a backward newsboy cap, porkpie. There’s a loud, striped necktie knotted loosely around someone’s neck. And over there, a Cowichan sweater. And maybe not such a great trend, if it is one, is the pipe-smoking (goin‘ on outdoors) — like 1950s dads.

I mentioned the music. Owners Allison and Cameron McKinnon not only are vets in the restaurant industry working in various capacities in the front-of-house at Brix and Il Giardino, they’re also musicians. She sings and plays guitar and piano. He plays multiple instruments in a rock band called Old Ripper. To move along the relaxed mood, there’s a tight but nice selection of beers and wines, too.

From the food perspective, first of all, Greedy Pig offers a nice selection of charcuterie plates. Not too long ago, the idea of salami and cheese wasn’t exactly a gourmet turn-on, at least in North America. All of a sudden, it’s cool — or should I say, hot.

It started with great product from local companies like Oyama Sausage on Granville Island Public Market and JNZ on Commercial Drive and took off from there. Chefs began plating them temptingly (cut transparently thin) and serving them with scrumptious cheeses and condiments. Restaurateur Sean Heather was first off the blocks with his inspired charcuterie love-in called Salt; edgily, he located his contemporary homage to cured meats and cheeses and wine just off needle-strewn Blood Alley. Other restaurants followed suit but not in quite the dramatic fashion; for instance, Soma, off Main, offers a nice charcuterie but it’s an option.

So, too, at Greedy Pig. It offers an $18 Butcher’s Plate, where you select two cheeses and three cured meats that come with salsa verde, pear rum compote, grapes and baguette slices. There’s also a foie gras paté plate, a Bresaola plate, a country paté plate ($10 to $16).

But there’s more than cured meats and cheeses. The kitchen is not much larger than a chef’s wing span, so there’s not a lot of fancy cooking going on. However, the humble fare of panini, soups, salads and stews is affordable and made with local ingredients.

The McKinnons had friend Sean Sylvestre, who until recently was sous chef at Cioppino’s, develop the menu and then hired former Cioppino prep cook Neil Hiltz to man the kitchen.

I tried a couple of panini — duck confit with sour cherries and bitter greens and the pulled pork with fennel and apple slaw. Both were delicious. The Prairie Stew, a long-simmered beef stew in dark stout, had lots of tender meat and deep, rich flavour. There’s only one dessert so far, a rum rice pudding that was tasty enough to order twice. There will be more desserts soon.

Allison, who’s in charge of the wines, has put together a nice selection and the mark-ups are lower than average. The Caymus Conundrum, I found, is delicious and a great cheese pleaser.

If there’s improvement required, it’s the lengthy wait for food. We seemed to be the only table waiting and yet it took an inordinate amount of time to deliver the simple-to-prepare dishes.

THE GREEDY PIG

Overall: 3 1/2

Food: 3 1/2

Ambience: 3 1/2

Service: 3 1/2

Price: $/$$

307 West Cordova St., 604-669-4991. www.thegreedypig.ca. Open Tuesday to Saturday, noon to midnight.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Ambleside bake shop delivers pure temptation

Mia Stainsby
Sun

A good scone is hard to come by. That’s why I was happy to find Flour Bake Shop in Ambleside, where the scones are not heavy or gummy in the mouth, or too soft and cakey. At Flour, the scone I had with some very good coffee had a crunchy, rustic exterior and a light crumb inside.

There had been a French bakery in this location for years and all of a sudden, returning home from a run on the West Van Seawall, I see this darling, sunny little place, definitely more bakeshop than patisserie with bright white furnishings and wainscotting and sea-green walls. Norah Jones was singing in the kitchen (but not in person).

From certain angles, the owner, Christine Morse looks like she should be gearing up for her high school graduation. Instead, she’s five months into running this bakery (her mother helps with design, sandwiches and sales) and offering some very toothsome wares along with a few panini should you want to stop by for lunch. Morse, 25, went through pastry training and has worked at Wedgewood as an assistant pastry chef and at Meinhardt in the pastry department.

“I prefer cooking when I’m at home, but for business, I’d rather be baking for my lifestyle. I’d rather be up early and working during the day at my own pace rather than in a fast-paced, hot kitchen at night,” says Morse.

I also tried her croissants (regular, almond and pain au chocolate), something else that requires precision and technical know-how. They were good. (The baguette, I felt, would not pass a Parisian’s standards; they were too soft and lacked a knock-knock crust.) Her muffins are great and if I had a hummingbird’s metabolism, I would have tried a lot more — like a piece of the coconut custard jelly roll or lemon brulée tart.

When little kids from the kids’ gym next door or the dance school across the way come in with their moms, they invariably want the colourful cupcakes or cookies (gingersnaps, chocolate hazelnut, oatmeal raisin) and, oddly enough, one of the creme brulées. On the morning I visited, a mom and three-year-old came in for the child’s birthday cake. Encircled with fondant bunnies, if cakes can be adorable, then it was.

On the savoury side, there are sandwiches on baguette — egg; ham and brie; roast beef and cheese; and pesto chicken. The teas are Silk Road teas, a high-end product from Victoria. And the coffee, Cafe Femenino (from Quadra Island) is product of a program helping to empower women in developing countries. “They earn their own money and empower their life,” says Morse.

Flour is open Monday to Saturday.

– – –

FLOUR BAKE SHOP

1443 Clyde Ave., West Vancouver. 604-925-2101.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008